


all tied up

by annalyia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Gift Fic, M/M, blade of marmora, just FYI, this is post keith joining the blade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 03:05:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13137762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annalyia/pseuds/annalyia
Summary: despite the circumstances, keith and lance go on a mission together





	all tied up

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by [this](http://caseydambro.tumblr.com/post/168760314485/when-are-they-gunna-go-on-another-mission) comic

Keith scowls.  He doesn’t understand why Kolivan is telling him that he has to go on this mission with Lance.

Lance?

He’s not even in the Blade! 

But, for some odd reason, Kolivan is adamant that this mission will go better if he takes one of the Paladins of Voltron with him instead of another member of the Blade of Marmora. 

Keith takes a deep breath, doing his best to calm himself, to stop being so annoyed. 

Begrudgingly, he realizes that he has to trust Kolivan.  The man _is_ in charge for a reason, after all. 

Besides, seeing Lance means that he can get an update on how all the other Paladins, Allura, and Coran are faring. 

“Yeah,” he says after Kolivan asks if he understands.  “Yeah, I get it.”

“Good,” Kolivan says.  “I’ve already informed the princess of this mission, and she’s given the Paladin his orders.  You are to meet him a few systems away from the ship you will be raiding, and he will take the two of you the rest of the way.”  Kolivan pulls out his communicator and checks the time.  “You have less than half a varga to prepare before you ship out.”  The leader of the Blade takes his leave after giving Keith his instructions.

Sighing, Keith runs a hand through his hair.  He quickly returns to his quarters and makes sure that he has everything he needs – dagger and communicator.  Next, he runs by the kitchen and grabs a protein bar and nutrient water pack, hurriedly scarfing down those.  He glances at his communicator.  Five dobashes left.  Time to get to the hangar.

Keith readies his small shuttle (it has just enough room for one) and punches in the coordinates Kolivan sent to his communicator earlier.  His shuttle quietly powers on and then he pilots it away from the base. 

He mulls over what it’s going to be like to see Lance again.  Keith feels like he left on pretty good terms with the other paladins, so he’s not entirely worried about that (no matter how annoying Lance can be).  He finds he’s more concerned with the fact that _Lance_ is going to be the one taking them to the mission.

Last he knew Lance was still piloting Red.

Keith wonders what it’ll be like, being back in Red’s cockpit, but not flying her.

Will she remember him?  Does their bond still exist?

Keith knows that Zarkon still had his bond with the black lion, but Shiro was able to overcome it, to make his bond stronger.

Has Lance been able to do that with Red?

Will she still purr when Keith shows up, still let him know she’s happy to see him?

Keith shakes his head, pushing these thoughts from his mind.  They’ll only distract him from the mission.

It only takes a little bit of time to reach the system, but when he arrives, Lance is already there.  

Red is floating through space, and seeing her makes his heart hurt.  He misses her. 

Keith turns on his ship’s com and hails Lance. 

The Blue Paladin’s face appears on screen, a goofy grin plastered on his face like always.  “’Sup, Keith?”

Keith’s a little taken aback.  He’s become so accustomed to the stoic attitudes and straightforwardness of everyone in the Blade of Marmora, that Lance’s peppiness threw him for a loop.  He’s missed it, he realizes.

“Uh, you know as much as I do,” Keith responds after a beat.

Lance scowls.  “I was hoping for a more personal answer, but oh well.  You’re free to come aboard when you’re ready.”

“Roger,” Keith says.  He pulls his shuttle right up next to Red before he turns it off.  After some careful calculations, he makes his way into Red’s open mouth. 

Once his feet are on solid ground again, he takes a moment.  Keith breathes in deeply, familiarizing himself once again with everything about Red.  He feels a soft purr in his brain, and it stops him cold.

She remembers. 

He smiles softly.  “Hey, old girl,” he murmurs.  “I’ve missed you.”

He gets the impression that she’s missed him, too, but also that this had to happen for the greater good.  Keith knows that, but he also hopes that one day he can return to Red.  He is her paladin, after all. 

Keith continues up the ramp until he reaches the cockpit and Lance.  The Blue—Red?—Paladin lounges in Red’s pilot seat, but he turns when he hears Keith approach.  His face lights up, that goofy grin from earlier back. 

“Keith!”  Lance hops up from his seat.  He makes as if to hug Keith, but then thinks better of it.  “Are you, um, you ready to go?”  He sits back down, chagrined.

Keith nods.  “Yeah, we only have so much time, anyways.”

“Okay, cool.”

Keith watches as Lance powers Red back up, cooing compliments at her softly.  Not exactly what Keith used to do, but he knows that he and Lance are different people, different paladins.

“So this is just a recon mission, right?” Lance asks.  “Allura gave me some info, but she didn’t really say.”

Keith nods.  “Yeah, we’re gathering intel on some of the supply and trade routes that we’ve seen the Galra start using recently.  They’ve probably figured out that we know all of their old ones and are trying to trip us up.  The new routes seem really similar to the old ones, but we’ve noticed that they don’t end up on the same places.”

“Huh, okay,” Lance replies.  “So, how has working with the Blade been?”

“It’s okay,” Keith says, shrugging.  “I’ve been on a couple missions, but I’ve mainly been training.”

“Sounds like fun.”

They don’t talk much more, instead letting Red take them to the station where they are supposed to get their information.  Lance brings Red to a stop on the surface of the planet.  “We’re far enough away from the base that we shouldn’t have triggered their scanners or anything.  From what Allura said, this place really only detects big cargo ships coming in.  Pidge gave me some tech in case we need to scramble any signals, too.”

“Let’s get going,” Keith says.

It takes a little bit, but eventually the two reach the base.  They dodge all the guards, and Keith is able to open the door with no trouble. 

Lance notices that he’s gotten a lot more disciplined since joining the Blade.  It’s not anything major, but it’s evident in the fact that Keith is just a tad more cautious—he’s still impulsive, but he manages to catch himself and look instead of just rushing around a corner and seeing what happens. 

Finally, they reach the control room.  There’s a big computer close to the back wall in the room (typical Galra), and Lance gets to work on it immediately.  He plugs in one of Pidge’s small devices and watches it get to work.  Keith checks the security cameras.  Doesn’t look like anyone is coming. 

“Piece of cake,” Lance says as he leans back against the wall. 

Keith snorts, before placing his hand against the wall next to Lance.

“How have you been?” Lance asks.  “We might as well catch up while we watch for the data to download.”

Keith shrugs.  “Tired, more than anything.  What about you?”

“A lot’s changed since you left,” Lance says.  He sounds sad.  “Allura is a cool Paladin and all, but, I don’t know, I miss piloting Blue and I miss having you in Red.”

“I…I miss it, too, Lance,” Keith says quietly.  He fidgets, uncomfortable.  He didn’t know that Lance felt that way.  “But…this is how it is now.”

Lance frowns, looks like he wants to say something, but doesn’t.  Instead, he just waits for Pidge’s device to finish downloading everything, which doesn’t take too much longer.  As Lance is removing the gizmo, Keith notices guards heading towards the room they’re in, and _quickly_. 

“Lance, we gotta get out of here,” Keith says.  “Now.”

Lance nods and removes the device from the computer, making sure that there were no traces left. 

Unfortunately, the guards are heading for the door the boys took to get into the room, so Keith grabs Lance by the wrist and drags him to the nearest door.  They race down the hall for a little bit, doing their best to avoid guards.  They reach an empty room and Keith hurries through it, pulling Lance along, to the door on the other side that (hopefully) leads the freedom.  “C’mon, let’s cut through here,” Keith suggests.

Keith hears the trap go off, but he doesn’t register what it is or what it does until he finds himself hanging upside down from the ceiling, tied together to Lance. 

They bounce around, the rope swinging back and forth for a moment as it adjusts.  They knock their foreheads together, causing Lance to let out an annoyed “ow!” 

Keith doesn’t even look at Lance (which is difficult, considering the situation). 

“Sharp work, Samurai,” Lance grumbles. 

Keith just continues glaring at the wall. 

“Well…any more bright ideas?” Lance asks, looking at the ceiling. 

Keith turns his head back to Lance to suggest something at the exact moment Lance looks back to him.

Their noses brush and each of them quickly look away, hiding a slight flush.

Keith isn’t really sure why he’s blushing, but he’s _definitely_ not sure why Lance is blushing.

“I have one,” Lance says, still looking anywhere but Keith.  “Let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah, good call,” Keith replies. 

“Got any tricks up your sleeve?” Lance asks.  He glances back at Keith, flashes a grin. 

“Uh, my dagger is in my pocket.”

“Close to your hand?”

“Sort of.”

“Think you can reach it?”

“I’m flexible.”

Keith wriggles his hand, trying to see if he can slip his fingers into his pocket.  It takes some effort, but eventually he grabs ahold of his dagger.  “Got it!”  He takes care to make sure that his dagger doesn’t elongate into a sword and cut more than just the ropes. 

“Hey, wait a second, we don’t want to—” Lance and Keith fall to the ground in a pile, thankful for their armor “—fall and hurt ourselves,” Lance finishes. 

Keith stands, stretching out the aches and pains.  Lance might have had a point.  “Too late,” Keith quips.  He offers a hand to Lance, hoists him up.

Lance lets his hand linger a little longer than necessary.  “Ready?”

“Ready.”

They continue their way through the base.  Lance has the security patrols pulled up on his communicator, making sure that he and Keith don’t run into any more trouble.  They reach the outside of the base and don’t stop running until Keith feels like they’re at least half way back to Red. 

“That was close,” Lance notes.  “We’re lucky that there weren’t any guards there.”

“Yeah,” Keith agrees. 

“Thanks for getting us out of there,” Lance says.  He grins at Keith and Keith feels his cheeks flush again (and notices that Lance’s do as well). 

They walk back to the Red Lion, Lance periodically checking his communicator to see if anyone is following them. 

Once they’ve safely returned, Red expresses that she’s pleased to see them both in one piece.  They clamber into the cockpit and leave the planet before any Galra know they were there. 

Lance smoothly pilots Red back to their meeting point. 

Keith wracks his brain for why he was a blushing mess not once, but _twice_ on this short mission.  It’s just Lance.  Sure, Keith missed him, but he missed everybody.  Sure, it’s nice to be around someone who has a sense of humor, but that’s just Lance.  Keith’s never found it, like, _cute_ or anything before. 

Why does he now?

Sooner than either party would like, they reach where Keith’s little shuttle is parked.  Lance brings Red to a stop, and Keith feels a pang of loss from her.  But he also senses that she’s not the only one who feels that way. 

Lance pops up from the pilot’s chair with a nervous enthusiasm that Keith can’t place.  “Looks, uh, looks like it’s time for you to head back.  Gotta tell Kolivan it was a success.”  He runs a hand through his hair, eyes bouncing around the cockpit, refusing to focus on any one thing (or person). 

“Yeah,” Keith says, rocking back and forth on his heels.  “Well, it-it was good to see you, Lance.”

Keith turns to go, but feels a hand wrap around his wrist and pull him back and then—

He and Lance are hugging. 

Lance’s face is buried in the crook of his neck.  He takes a deep breath before saying, “I meant it when I said I missed you.”

Keith feels his face burn.  “I-I miss you too, Lance,” he says uncertainly.  Not that he’s uncertain with his feelings, just surprised with the physical contact. 

Lance pulls back and, in the process, he and Keith brush noses again.  Lance’s blush darkens. 

And then all of the sudden they’re both leaning in, they’re both closing their eyes and they’re both kissing. 

It’s short and sweet and to the point, but it’s still a kiss. 

Lance grins once they pull apart.  A real, happy, goofy grin.  “Nice.”

“Oh, shut up.”  Keith scowls.  But he isn’t denying that he didn’t enjoy it.

“You just kissed me,” Lance sing-songs.  “And you didn’t judo flip me immediately afterwards, so I can’t only assume it was good.”

“I can’t say that I minded it,” Keith answers.

“You liked it,” Lance crows, holding out the ‘i’ in like for a few seconds. 

“And you didn’t?”

“Now, I never said that.”

“Exactly.”  Keith leans in again, presses his lips against Lance’s for a brief moment.  It’s nice.

“As much as I hate to say it, we’ve got to get back.  This data is gonna help in that on-going fight against Zarkon that’s basically taken over our lives,” Lance says.

“Yeah,” Keith says.  “But it can wait just another minute.” 

They kiss again, this one longer and better than the others. 

“We’ve gotta get going,” Lance says again.  “Maybe we can do this again?”

“I wouldn’t mind.”

**Author's Note:**

> so i was scrolling through tumblr the other day and i saw that comic and was immediately like I HAVE TO WRITE THIS (sure i have like........four other fics in the works but.....whatever..........i'm fine)
> 
> comments and kudos are always appreciated!!!! :D


End file.
